Things are tough
these days in Rosen World -- that perplexing and abstract sphere inhabited by
the those looking under rocks and behind doors for the darkness and danger of
the great liberal threat to mankind.

It can't be easy purporting
to embrace scandal and conspiracy theory only to have it vaporize and disappear
time after time after time into the black hole of artificiality and
affectation. But thus is life in Rosen World.

In July of last
year, Denver conservative radio host and political commentator Mike Rosen
wrote, "The trial and acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon
Martin and the aftermath of that verdict has been a timely and convenient
distraction from the flock of scandals circling President Obama's head." Not
just one scandal, mind you, but an entire flock circling - like a wake of buzzards
over carrion.

But reading an
op-ed or listening to a radio talk show in Rosen World is the political
equivalent of eating at McDonald's - the menu is always the same, devotees find
comfort in the predictability of the fare, and the likelihood of regurgitation is
ever-present.

In Rosen World,
political ideology trumps common sense. Suspicion and duplicity eclipse reason.
Hate and discontent rule the day. And scandals? They rock that parallel
universe to its core. Rosenthology is a
study in conspiracy, rumor, and allegation with little concern for fact, and
less concern for honesty. The tomes frequently include references to the
Benghazi scandal, the IRS scandal, and the Obamacare scandal. Scandal. Scandal.
Scandal.

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In Rosen World there is always a
longing and desperate hope for a new revelation that will bring down President
Obama and Democrats. What really
happened during the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi? Who can we blame?
Rep. Darrel Issa (R-Calif) has spent the past year and a half investigating
every aspect of the Benghazi attack at a cost of millions of dollars to
taxpayers, and he has uncovered... nothing. No sign of conspiracy. No foul play. Nothing. Put a fork in it.

Another oft-discussed
Rosen World scandal "circling" over President Obama involves the Internal
Revenue Service's "targeting of conservative groups" - almost certainly done at
the behest of the administration's thuggish Chicago inner circle. How dare the
IRS investigate the tax-exempt status of such obviously apolitical and
do-gooder social-welfare organizations like Koch-funded Americans for
Prosperity or FreedomWorks?

To his dubious
credit, conservative watchdog Issa has spent some $14 million dollars looking
into that Rosen World scandal only to discover that more progressive than
conservative groups were targeted. Drat. No link to the White House. Scandal up
in smoke. Poof. Gone.

Those in Rosen World demand a culprit for the
National Security Agency's intelligence gathering. The nation grumbles but the
scandal fades amid security concerns. The Fast and Furious gun-walking
operation? A 470-page Justice
Department probe concludes that there was more incompetence than conspiracy.
Drat. Poof. Splat.

Lastly, on a more
personal but nonetheless scandalous level (for what could be more shameful than
to target society's most vulnerable), Rosenthology doctrine makes the claim that "very few of the homeless
are without a place to live" (Denver Post, May 10, 2012). But the latest Point-In-Time survey conducted
by the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (MDHI) concluded that there are 921
youth ages 13 to 24 who experience homelessness on any given day in Denver.
921. That's nearly 1,000 youth who sleep on the streets of Denver each night
say the folks at Urban Peak who actually count
them. Having worked at Urban Peak from 2007-12, I assure you that many of
homeless -- and I've met thousands -- are without a place to live. But facts are
sometimes inconvenient things on planet Rosen.

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Events in Rosen
World bring to mind a scene from the 1995 movie, "The American President", in
which President Andrew Shepherd addresses the small-mindedness of his political
rival Bob Rumson. He says,

"Bob's
problem isn't that he doesn't get it. Bob's problem is that he can't sell it!
We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them.
And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the
least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two
things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it."

That, in a nutshell, is the problem in Rosen World.
Fear and blame aren't selling too well. But in the real world problems are
being solved - one health-care policy, one gay soldier, one less war, one
American automaker, one less Bin Laden, one higher-mileage car, and one breath
of fresher air at a time.

Mark McVay has lived and taught school in Oregon, Michigan, California, and Colorado. He is a Vietnam veteran and served in the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in South Vietnam in 1969-70. His wife is a retired USMC officer. McVay's writing has (more...)